CEO David Lecoque announces ARE’s Bold Energy Compact at the UN HLDE2021 Ministerial Forums
Brussels, 1 July 2021 – As part of its Energy Compact, Alliance for Rural Electrification (ARE) has pledged to enable the private sector to deliver sustainable electricity services to at least 500 million additional people in its three focus regions, catalyse the creation of at least 5 million green jobs, and avoid at least 1 billion tonnes of CO2e emissions by 2030.
The announcement was made on 23 June at the Energy Transition Day of the Ministerial Thematic Forums for the High-level Dialogue on Energy. The Forums are part of an effort to engage governments, businesses, and financial institutions to develop “Energy Compacts” that spell out plans to ensure universal access to clean, affordable energy for all (SDG-7) by 2030 and a pathway to net-zero emissions by 2050.
David Lecoque, CEO of ARE stated that: “With this Compact, ARE demonstrates the commitment of the entire decentralised renewable energy (DRE) sector to achieve sustainable universal electrification, generate massive green job creation and fight climate change. Hundreds of millions of people and businesses are already powered by DRE, but much more is needed to reach the goals latest by 2030. We therefore call on all public, private and philanthropic stakeholders to reach out and work with ARE to jointly implement these concrete objectives without delay.”
Damilola Ogunbiyi, CEO & Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Sustainable Energy for All & Co-Chair of UN-Energy added that: "I would like to commend ARE for their bold leadership in committing to an Energy Compact. These Compacts will enable us to mobilise partners and catalyse momentum towards achieving SDG7 by 2030 and the goals of the Paris agreement on climate change. Energy Compacts capture voluntary public and trackable concrete actions that governments, companies, institutions, civil society and many more commit to doing in order to achieve our development and climate goals.”